Brady and Trump have been connected since a red cap with the Trump slogan “Make America Great Again” was spotted in Brady’s locker last year….Brady called Trump “a good friend” in an interview with WEEI in Boston last December. “I have known him for a long time. I support all my friends. That is what I have to say.”…Trump told The New York Times in March he believed his friendship with Brady played a role in The Donald’s blowout primary victory in Massachusetts.

“Honestly, in that part of the world, a reference like Tom Brady saying Trump’s the biggest winner, Trump is a friend of mine, that makes an incredible difference,” Trump said. “Tom Brady is a great friend of mine. He’s a winner and he likes winners. He was very helpful to us in Massachusetts on Tuesday.”

Well, pandering to the New England crowd by cozying up to a popular local sports hero is all well and good, but there’s two sides to that coin, as Martha Coakley famously found out with her “Yankee fan” gaffe aimed at Curt Schilling back in 2010. Because Trump was going to win Rhode Island walking away anyway, but the most pivotal primary of the next month is May 3 in Indiana. And in Indiana, Brady is the hated rival of the hometown Indianapolis Colts and their former longtime star quarterback, Peyton Manning. Brady has knocked the Colts out of the playoffs three times in four matchups, and his four Super Bowl rings have long been cited as evidence that he’s the greatest quarterback of his generation – not Manning.